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"Tell people the way it is and not bull your way around and work hard. You do what you say you're going to do when you tell them you're going to do it," Marron said. "You can have everything you need, but if you're not a man and keep your word, it means nothing."

Marron Real Estate started in 1994, when Marron, who had worked at Century 21, decided he wanted to go into business on his own.

"I was a builder in Indiana before I sold out in 1985 and got my real estate license. I worked for the Lehigh Corporation and Century 21 for several years before I had a bad wreck that put me out of commission," Marron said.

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Marron started on Pondella Road and later moved to Bayshore before settling at 1888 N. Tamiami Trail at the end shop at the Weaver's Corner Shopping Plaza, where Kam Realty was before moving to Punta Gorda.

Marron was able to withstand the housing bust of 2007-10 that took out a lot of his colleagues. He said there were many repeat customers and there was money to be made for those who could afford it.

Marron is as strong as it's ever been, thanks to the recovery and Kelly Toney, who bought the company in January 2016, just three months after getting her real estate license and a year after Marron had quintuple heart bypass surgery.

"I came into Bill's office because I knew of him and asked if there were any properties he wanted to sell for management. He said why don't you just buy the whole thing?" Toney said. "A pizza and a couple beers later, here we are."

Currently, they have about 35 active listings in single-family, multi-family and commercial, as well as lots and acreage, of which there is a lot they deal with in the eastern part of the area.

Bill Marron Real Estate is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with weekend hours by request. For more information, call 731-1600 or go to billmarron.com.